Starting device for mercury-vapor apparatus.



No. 805,293. PATENTED NOV. 21, 1905.

P. 0. HEWITT. -STARTING DEVICE FOR MERCURY VAPOR APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 19. 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER COOPER HEWITT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO COOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORA- TION OF NEW YORK.

STARTING DEVICE FOR MERCURY-VAPOR APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 21, 1905.

Original application filed November 24,1903, Serial No. 182,443. Divided and this application filed October 19, 1904.

Serial No. 229,055.

T0 on whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, PETER COOPER HEWITT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, county of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Starting Devices for Mercury-Vapor Electric Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of electrical apparatus in which electric currents are caused to traverse an inclosed gas or vapor. In other applications and in a number of patents I have described apparatus of this general character, the same being designed for use in some instances for electric-lighting purposes and in other instances for obtaining unidirectional currents from alternating currents. In some forms of this apparatus one or more of the electrodes consists of a small quantity of mercury, and the inclosed gas or vapor consists of vaporized or volatilized mercury. Generally speaking, a convenient Way for causing an initial flow of current through the apparatus has been to impress a higher electrical potential than is required to maintain the devices in a conductive condition when once started.

I have devised various means for conveniently securing the initial current-flow, and my present invention aims to provide a new solution of the same problem. In this instance I provide simple and effective means for forming an initial closed circuit between two electrodes of different potential in the apparatus, whereby a flow of current having the normal operating-potential is readily established through the closed circuit, and upon the interruption of this circuit the current flows through the gas or vapor.

In one form of starting device made in accordance with the present invention I cause a thin stream of mercury to be ejected from one electrode into contact with the other and then permit the stream to be disintegrated by gravity, whereby the conducting-stream through which the initial current has been caused to flow is interrupted, and the current then traverses the current-path between the electrodes.

In another embodiment of my invention the mercury isinitially restrained from falling in a stream to the lower electrode, and the act of starting consists in automatically releasing the restrained mercury to allow a flow from the upper to the lower electrode for starting purposes.

The means which I contemplate employing for causing the ejection orsquirting ofastream of mercury, as above described,.are in the nature of an electromagnetically-operated syringe which will force a portion of the lower mercury electrode upward and into contact with the other electrode. Similar means may be employed for releasing the mercury in the second form of apparatus described above; but these means may be varied, and it is also true that various other means may be provided for causing a closed circuit to be formed between the electrodes, one of which is illustrated and described in the present application. After the electromagnetic devices have done their work they may be automatically cutout of the circuit or may be left in the circuit, if desired.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section of an apparatus embodying my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are similar views of modified forms of apparatus, and Fig.4 is a section along the line on m in Fig. 1 looking downward.

Referring to the first figure of the drawings, 1 represents the inclosing chamberof the device, which is here represented as an electric lamp, although it will be understood that the invention is applicable to electric converters or currentrectifier-s. The positive electrode is here shown at 2 as consisting of a cup of metalsuch, for instance, as iron which is attached to a leading-in wire 3, hermetically sealed in the wall of the chamber. The negative electrode 4; consists in this instance of a quantity of mercury. The electrode 4 is contained within a chamber at the lower end of the lamp, at the bottom of which chamber is formed a cylinder or socket 6, which will usually be formed in one piece with the glass constituting the container. Above the cylinder 6 is located an armature 5, of soft iron. This armature is here shown as annular in form and as coated with glass or other suitable material. The armature floats in the mercury constituting the negative electrode of the apparatus. It may be prevented from rising above a predetermined point by means of inwardly-projecting lugs 18 18, formed on the inner walls of the device. The glass coating of the armature is provided with an extension 7, adapted to fit fairly closely within the cylinder or socket Through the armature and the glass covering the same eX- tends a narrow slit or perforation 8. The glass surrounding the armature terminates at the top in a nozzle 9. Outside the chamber containing the negative electrode is located an actuating-coil 10, its location being such that when the coil is energized it will draw the armature 5 downward. hen the current is turned on by closing the line-circuit, the coil is vitalized, draws the armature quickly downward, thereby causes the projection or extension 7 to enter the socket or cylinder 6, whereupon a thin stream of mercury is forced upward through the perforation 8 and is carried into contact with the electrode 2, thus completing a conducting-circuit between the electrodes. The negative electrode 4 is connected to line through leading-in wire 11, and accordingly the described closure of the circuit inside the apparatus completes the linecircuit, as shown, through the line-wire 12, leading to the leading-in wire 3, the positive electrode 2, the stream of mercury, the negative electrode 4, the leading-in wire 11, and the wire 13. The latter wire may include a coil 15, having an armature 16, which is connected with the movable parts 17 of an electric switch 19. Accordingly when the described circuit is completed the coil 10 is cut out by the automatic opening of the switch 19 through the action of the coil 15. If the original circuit of the coil 10 is thus broken, the armature 5 would be free to rise to its original position against the lugs 18, under which circumstances the current may pass around the armature and through the spaces between the lugs 18; but it will be understood that any convenient well-known means for placing the coil 10 in series relation to the lamp may be employed, so that the armature will be held within the coil.

When the stream of mercury falls away from the positive electrode 2 by the action of gravity, it is found that the current will flow through the vapor, so that the action described in the foregoing part of the specification is sufficient to start the lampv or other device into operation, after which the device will continue to operate under the influence of the current.

By coating the iron forming the armature with glass any gases which may be occluded in the iron will be prevented from escaping into the chamber, thus simplifying the manufacture of the device and preventing it from becoming injured by the presence of deleterious gases. The general method of exhausting the lamp and other characteristics to be observed in the manufacture are described in certain patents issued to me September 17, 1901.

In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2 the mercury electrode is located near the top of the lamp and the iron electrode at the bottom. The armature 20 of the coil 10 is here connected with a valve-stem joined to a valve 21. The latter controls the mouth of an opening or channel 22, leading from the receptacle where the mercury is held into the main lampchamber. When the coil 10 is energized, the valve is lifted and a stream of mercury flows down upon the positive electrode 2. In order to provide electrical continuity all the way from the positive electrode to the negative, I may place at the mouth of the channel 22 a strip 23 of conducting material leading from the channel back to the body of mercury, as illustrated. It is clear that the opening of the channel as described will allow a stream of mercury to fall and that by virtue of the strip 28 of conducting material there will be a continuous conducting-path from one electrode to the other, formed in part by the stream of mercury and in part by the conducting-strip. The connections of the conductors leading to the coil 10 may be similar to those shown in Fig. 1 for cutting out the coil when current commences to flow through the lamp, so that the valve may close.

Fig. 3 illustrates an organization in which the positive electrode 2 at the top of the apparatus is connected by a good conductor 24 with a body of mercury in a specially-constructed chamber 25. From this chamber leads a channel 22, as before, into the main container. When the mercury is spilt over from the chamber down to the lower electrode 4, a complete path between the two electrodes is formed, partly by the stream of mercury and partly by the conductor 24.

In both organizations illustrated by Figs. 2 and 3 current will pass through the vapor between the two electrodes as soon as the stream of mercury falls apart by gravity. The organization shown in this figure may be provided withdevices for cutting out the coil 10, as illustrated in Fig. 1. As soon as the stream of mercury ceases to flow or breaks apart a current will be established between the negative electrode 4 and the main positive electrode 2. 1

In another application, Serial No. 182,443, filed November 24, 1903, of which this application is a division, claims are made upon the method described herein. In still another application, Serial No. 267,983, filed July 1, 1905, claims are made upon the structure illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a gas or vapor electric apparatus, two electrodes, one of which is a fluid and the other a solid, means for projecting a stream of said fluid into contact with another electrode,thereby causing theelectric current to traverse the intervening vapor or gas.

2. The combination with a suitable container, a conducting fluid therein, and two electrodes also within the container, of an electromagnetic device, and means operated thereby for bringing the two electrodes into electricalconnection inside the container by means of the mechanical action of said device on the fluid.

3. The combination, with a vapor electric lamphaving a sealed casing, of power-developing means located outside of the sealed casing, and projecting means located Within the sealed casing for projecting a conductive liquid from one electrode toward the other electrode, such interiorly-located liquid-project ing means being controllable by the exterior power means.

4. The combination with a vapor electric lamp having a sealed casing, of power-developing means located outside of the sealed casing, and projecting means located within the sealed casing and operatable upon the liquid illuminant for projecting the liquid illuminant from one electrode toward the other electrode, such interiorly-located illuminant-projecting means being controllable by the exterior power 'means.

5. A vapor electric lamp comprising a sealed casing, an electrode of vaporizable liquid illuminant at the lower part of the casing and another electrode at the upper part of the casing, and electrically-controlled starting means for projecting the liquid illuminant upward toward the upper electrode;

6. The combination, with an incandescent vapor electric lamp, of exterior-1y located power-developing means and interiorly-located jet-projecting means controllable by the exterior power means.

7. The combination, with a vapor electric lamp, of exteriorly-located power-developing controllable by the exterior power means.

10. The combination, with a vapor electric lamp, of an eXteriorly-located solenoid-coil and an interiorly-located piston having a jetorifice and forming a core for the solenoid.

11. In a gas or vapor electric apparatus, separated electrodes relatively positive and negative, and means for projecting between such electrodes a stream of conducting fluid for accomplishing the starting action.

12. In a gas or vapor electric apparatus, separated electrodes relatively positive and negative, at least one of the said electrodes being a conducting liquid, and means for projecting between such electrodes a stream of conducting fluid for accomplishing the starting action.

13. In a gas or vapor electric apparatus, a container, and electrodes therein relatively positive and negative, one of the said electrodes being a conducting liquid and placed relatively lower than the other inside the container, and means for projecting a portion of the conducting liquid against the force of gravity into contact with another electrode.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 12th day of October, A. D. 1904.

PETER COOPER HEWITT. Witnesses:

WM. H. GAPEL, GEORGE H. STooKBRIDeE. 

